Mets beat Braves 5-2; Maine leaves game early

It was a night of firsts as the Mets capitalized on four Braves errors to beat them in the opening game of the series. Ike Davis got his first Major League home run, launching a bomb into the Pepsi Porch on a windy night.

This happened on a night when Jose Reyes batted in the three hole for the first time in his career. It seems to have suited him as he went 2-for-4, including a triple.

Not to be outdone, Hisanori Takahashi got his first win after he came into the game to relieve John Maine, who left early due to muscle spasms and pain in his non-throwing arm. He had pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing one run before exiting the game. Takahashi struck out seven batters in three innings and gave up one run. He even got his first hit.

Jason Bay also contributed with an RBI triple. Finally, the 3-4-5 hitters contributed. David Wright also had an RBI.

In a crazy play in the seventh inning, Reyes hit a pop-up prompting the infield-fly rule to be called. However, Chipper Jones missed the pop-up and it rolled toward the Mets dugout. Angel Pagan, who was on second, advance to third after the drop. There was then confusion by the Braves, who didn’t need to throw the ball to first to put out Reyes. So, Pagan took advantage and stole home.

Francisco Rodriguez got his first three-out save to wrap things up, even though he made things interesting by allowing two base runners.